over many generations mired in misery and longing for the land of their
forefathers? The scenario is preposterous. A sense of displacement did not
dominate Jewish consciousness in communities strewn around the Medi-
terranean. It is noteworthy that Jews seem to have felt no need to fashion a
theory of Diaspora. Those who inhabited a world of Greek culture and Ro-
man power did not wrestle with or agonize over the fact of dispersal. It was
an integral part of their existence and a central element of their identity.
The very term “Diaspora” is a Greek one. It rarely appears as a noun in
Hellenistic Jewish authors. And it nowhere serves as a translation ofgalut
orgolahwith the connotation of “exile.” In fact, the authors of the Septua-
gint normally rendered such terms as “colony” or a version of “colony.” In
normal Greek usage the word carried no negative overtones and, in fact,
Hellenic colonies generally developed fully independent existences. The
founding of Jerusalem is ascribed to Moses by a Greek author who labels it
a “colony” and gives it a positive meaning. Jews evidently picked up this
phraseology from the Gentiles. Philo alludes to the Hebrews led out of
Egypt by Moses as a “colony.” And movement in the other direction re-
ceives the same designation: the Jews of Palestine sent out colonies to
places all over the Mediterranean and the Near East. The migration gener-
ated a sense of pride, not an embarrassment or a lament. Jewish intellectu-
als did not fill their writings with complaints about being cut off from the
center and confined to a truncated, isolated, and subservient existence.
One hears no agonizing rationalizations, justifications, or apologias for
Diaspora. That itself is telling.
Just how the Jews did feel about their circumstances abroad escapes
direct notice. Indirect evidence has to suffice. And generalizations that en-
compass the Mediterranean world would be hazardous, if not downright
misleading. The experience of Jewish communities in Asia Minor may
have little bearing on that of the Jews in Babylon or Cyrene or Rome. The
very notion of “Diaspora Judaism” suggests a uniformity that is unlikely to
have existed. Circumstances differed and reactions varied. It would be an
error to imagine that Jews everywhere faced a choice of either maintaining
tenacious adherence to a segregated existence or assimilating fully to an
alien culture. There was much room in between, and Jews doubtless
ranged themselves on all parts of the spectrum. Each individual area
struck its balance differently and constructed its own peculiar mixture. It
was rarely a conscious or calculated process.98
erich s. gruenEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:03:55 PM